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The boss of the NHS in England apologised to the families of those who died at Mid-Staffs NHS Trust. Sir David Nicholson, a local manager at the time, said it was not his fault. The entire NHS had, in effect, taken its eye off the ball as it chased 'targets'.

He went on to say he was the man to put it right - and he was not for quitting. But, as ITV News medical editor Lawrence McGinty reports, some of the families still want him to go:

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Deb Hazeldine lost her mother, Ellen Linstead, in December 2006 after she caught a superbug at Stafford Hospital. She told ITV News it is "unacceptable" that Sir David Nicholson remains in his job as NHS chief executive following the Mid Staffordshire Hospital scandal.

Speaking in Westminster following the Health Select Committee, Julie Bailey, who set up the Cure The NHS campaign group after her mother Bella died at Stafford Hospital in 2007, said Sir David's evidence was "shameful" and "embarrassing".

Asked what changes were required to implement the recommendations of the Francis Report on Mid Staffordshire Hospital, Sir David Nicholson said: "This is a significant change programme for the NHS from literally top to bottom.

"It's from setting out basic standards that patients and everyone can understand and assessing and inspecting again against them."

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has told MPs that when he held senior posts in at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, he was unaware of the failings happening at the trust.

He said: "I had no idea...As shocking as it is, that is the truth. It's not to say there wasn't any information around in the health care system before I got there and by other organisations. We did not, in the NHS, at that time, a culture of sharing information across the system."

Chief Executive of the NHS, Sir David Nicholson, has told the Health Select Committee that during 2005 and 2009: "The leadership of the NHS lost its focus. I put my hands up to that, I was part of that. My learning through all of that is to never let it happen again."

The NHS boss is facing questions from MPs on the recent highly critical report of the failings of Stafford Hospital, which called for urgent reform of the NHS.